Comic Closet: Thor

Asgardians live for a really long time; thousands more so than mere humans. With Thor puttering around so long, it just stands to reason he needs a lot of different things to wear for that extended stay in the land of the living. Sure enough, we the avid readers have been given a long look into his wardrobe as a younger, reckless Asgardian lad, the current Thor we know and love, along with the future King. He’s had some pretty bad-ass costumes and some pretty bad ones along the way as well. We narrowed down our favorite five as usual, but in addition we have implemented a new piece to Costume Closet, our favorite dishonorable mention. This goes to the costume we found to be the worst of the worst. See which costumes we loved, and afterwards which one we hated the most.

5. Ultimates: The Ultimates costume redesigns were a mixed bag for me, but in the end I did like Thor’s. It is a great real world feel that still retains Thor’s original look. It loses points though for no cape or helmet which are almost a must for Thor. Ultimate Mjolnir does look pretty sick though compared to the Marvel 616 counterpart. Sure he can bash a bilchsteim’s head in with the hammer part, but if he fancies a decapitation instead, he can do that as well. The bottom handle might just be a bottle opener too, which is of course super awesome!

4. Fear Itself: While I wasn’t thrilled with Fear Itself as a story, Thor did get some pretty cool armor for the final battle. This makes Thor look like a general leading his forces into battle, more so than any other costume he’s had, sans one which we’ll get to in for the number 2 spot. While it wouldn’t be practical for him to be wearing this day to day, it was a treat for the ultimate battle. It even came with a big ass sword; who doesn’t love a big ass sword?

3. Original: You can’t go wrong with Thor’s original costume. It is so iconic that most all of his costumes have used this as a base and just modified it from there. It is hard to think of Thor as a mythical character, not even the Marvel comics one. and not have this come first in your mind over any other iteration. The helmet is just about perfect, if not for being a tad large here. They even gave him a golden belt with a T on it; not even Mr. T himself can claim that.

2. Old King Thor: What happens when the rest of Asgard has fallen before Thor? He becomes this battle hardened, grizzled old man that you don’t want to mess with. The armor is fantastic and is even a step up over the armor from Fear Itself. Things finally came full circle for Thor as he lost an eye like his father Odin. Cable has always been pretty hardcore too, so why not give Thor a giant metal arm that puts Nathan Summers to shame. It gave us something to dream for in old age as well; when I get older, I want to look as cool as old King Thor!

1. Modern: His original costume is and will always be awesome, but this is that but all grown up. I love the addition of the chain mail, it just makes him look even more ready to charge into battle. The helmet size has reduced over the years and looks much more practical. In comics, writers are always charged with upping the ante for our favorite heroes and Thor has never looked more ready to battle any new, dangerous threat that enters his path.

Dishonorable Mention

Mid 90’s: Spawn got really pissed when he realized that Thor decided to borrow his cape without asking. And what’s up with that hair? Was he trying to grow it out so if Loki ever imprisoned him in a tall dungeon, a prince could climb up it and free him? The bare midriff makes him look like a teenybopper out on the prowl with Sif for a date. This got the worst even over the Incredible Hulk Returns Thor costume which was pretty terrible itself. If Asgard happens to have a Goodwill or some other mystical thrift store, hopefully Thor was sensible enough to not donate this travesty and just burn it instead.